The Nashville Shakespeare Festival recently released the first volume of its riveting collection of Shakespearean country, blues and folk tunes. The project took a lot of work from a long list of contributors. The Nashville Shakespeare Festival, or NSF, presents lively musical adaptations of classic themes from Shakespeare’s legendary work. The Volume 1 album includes songs chosen from NSF performances that took place between 2014 and 2018, forged by some of the best composers and writers of Music City.
Producers Brent King and Jack Kingsley helped steer the project, working with a broad variety of musicians and co-writers, including the project’s executive producer, Denice Hicks. Seven different songwriters come together to interpret and portray Shakespeare’s finest literary achievements on the album, and numerous other musicians were involved in the production.
Tons of highly skilled music industry veterans prowl Nashville’s competitive ecosystem. This first volume of music is a product of strong direction and hard work. It’s clear that the mix was quite an effort, considering the variety of featured talent and styles. Continuity is hard to maintain when dealing with recordings from different artists. Unlike a band with a defined sound, juggling a project made up of a large variety of musicians can be difficult to tackle. Surprisingly, as diverse as it is, the album displays a reasonable level of track-to-track continuity.
This album is definitely not a casual listen. Not to mention, a country-blues-Shakespearean album is an odd concept to digest; this isn’t a bad thing whatsoever, but it’ll likely deter music fans looking for something specific. And while this sort of project is a novelty, that doesn’t mean it deserves to be tossed out.
There’s little question what city the album came from. We hear strong elements of traditional genres that are native Southern favorites. Potent Southern gospel meets the rich bluegrass heritage fashioned by the greats. Browsing quickly through the album will spark echoes of Bob Dylan. Every now and then, the album pays a nod to Broadway. After circling back around, scraps of skiffle and classic rock loosely bleed through the collection.
Concept albums aren’t really being largely circulated these days. Unless you’re abnormally well-versed in Shakespeare or share an interest in classic literature, expect a hard time fully grasping The Music of the Nashville Shakespeare Festival. Shakespeare holds a mythical status in literature, and modern artists are respectfully building new renditions of an art form we’ll never get to experience in full authenticity. The Nashville Shakespeare Festival deserves great attention for its work inside and outside the studio, even though there’ll be some disconnect among listeners who aren’t familiar with NSF and the scope of Shakespeare’s unsung impact on songwriting.
The first volume released by The Nashville Shakespeare Festival has its merits. In front of the right audience, it shines. Behind the red curtain, it blends in with the typical Nashville sounds.
